


Cell Mates

by Closeted_Calliope



Category: Trolls (2016), Trolls World Tour (2020)
Genre: Bonding, Canon Compliant, Capture, Comedy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, These characters have no screentime but the discord made me ship them, bc neither of them have any freakin screentime, but this whole thing takes place over like???? 3 days?????, i will pepper in several hc in during this, like its slow for you the reader, semi-slow burn????, so idk what that qualifies as, takes place during the movie, though mostly comfort imma be real
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23668660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Closeted_Calliope/pseuds/Closeted_Calliope
Summary: Trollzart is a bit less than thrilled to be forcefully taken on Barb’s World Tour, in fact he’s completely heartbroken by the destruction of his land, the entrapment of his people, and the taking of his string. At least the techno troll he’s “rooming” with is very nice.
Relationships: Trollex/Trollzart (Trolls), implied Barb/Poppy (Trolls), implied Branch/Poppy (Trolls)
Comments: 104
Kudos: 173





	1. A Less Than Ideal Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I for one would like to blame the gay trolls server for making me get into this ship (esp Liife n Space). I guess it’s up to me to create content for these two characters that barely show up, huh? Also we agreed that their ship name is Crescendo, so jot that down. I have no idea what I’m doing so we’re just gonna hop into this bad boy and hope it doesn’t suck! :)!

As the Anglerfish bus pulled away from Symphonyville, Trollzart couldn’t help but watch in horror. His town was utterly destroyed, his people taken captive, and his string was in the evil clutches of Barb, Queen of the Rock Trolls. He felt so useless, like he wasn't even worthy of being called king. He felt so powerless, but the rock trolls outnumbered them greatly, and the strength of their harsh, loud music was enough to render their defenses completely useless.

Trollzart sighed, a single tear rolling down his sparkly yellow cheek. He watched from the back of the Anglerfish as the flames of Symphonyville grew smaller and smaller, until they were completely unable to be seen. Still, Trollzart looked on, uselessly hoping that this was all a big mistake and that someone was coming to save him and his people , but he knew that anyone that could save them was too busy trying to keep themselves safe from the Rockers.

Barb's plan was utterly terrifying. Destroying all music except for rock? Trollzart hadn't heard anything like that since the original separation of the strings He couldn't believe that another ruler was using her powers for such _evil_. All music other than rock.... gone forever......

It was hard for him to even fathom that he may never hear his sweet classical music again.

“Hey man, it’s ok, I get it.”

Trollzart nearly jumped out of his skin, forgetting he was not alone. He turned to face his "roomate" of sorts. King Trollex, ruler of the Techno Trolls, sitting on one of the cots they had in their holding cell, giving him a soft, sad smile.

Trollzart wasn't sure what to think about Trollex. It wasn't like they hadn't met before: they'd been to each others' coronations ages ago, but he didn't really know the guy. He was leader of the techno trolls, he liked techno music, and he seemed nice, but they hadn't really interacted much beyond civil pleasantries and governmental letters. 

"I don't think we've ever gotten the chance to officially meet!" He said with a cheer that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm Trollex, though I'm sure you already knew that...." He stuck out a hand to be shaken.

Trollzart fluttered over to his cellmate, deciding that there really was no better time to get to know someone when you were both held captive by a raging rock troll, and delicately took his smooth hand in his own tiny one. "Trollzart, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"And yours as well."

Both clearly wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words to say it. After all, their situation was unfortunate to say the least, and while neither wanted to bring it up the elephant in the room, but they also didn't want to dance around the obvious. So, Trollzart quietly fluttered to his own cot on the other side of the cell, his tiny legs dangling off the edge. Trollex adjusted himself so he was lying down in his own cot.

The two rulers listened as the Anglerfish ran through the mountains, shaking their little room heavily. Occassionally, a rock troll would walk past their barred door and sneer or chuckle. They wordlessly decided that ignoring them was probably their best bet given that they didn't know what Barb wanted to do with them now that she got their strings. If she still wanted them after she took everything from them, she must've been planning something big.

And so they sat in silence, staring at the ceiling or the floor, out the window or through the bars of the door, anywhere but each other because that would force conversation, thinking about what would happen to them, or worse, their people and filling their heads with scenarios that progressively got worse as they continued to think them.

This went on for nearly an hour until, inevitably, the silence became so suffocating for Trollex that someone needed to speak up before he _died_.

He asked, "How you holdin' up? You know, given everything that's happening right now."

Trollzart looked down, wringing his hands, unsure of what to say.

"It's ok, I get it," Trollex assured with a humorless chuckle. "Everything's just happening so fast, and you feel so out of control, and you're worried about your people."

"How did you- oh wait, nevermind," Trollzart mumbled, face reddening as he remembered that the troll before him literally went through the same thing as he had.

The chuckle that followed sounded more genuine, almost happy, as it flowed through Trollex's gills. "Don't worry about it too much, I'd say it's been a long day for both of us, I wouldn't be surprised if all our thoughts started jumbling together."

Trollzart nodded and started, "This all just feels very unreal..."

"Like its all just a bad nightmare that you want to wake up from," Trollex agreed somberly.

“Exactly,” Trollzart sighed as he turned his head to look out the barred door. “What does Barb hope to gain from destroying all music? How did she even get so powerful in the first place?”

“I think it’s because she harnessed the power of her string against us.”

“Yes, but you also had a string, you could defend yourself, yes?”

Trollex was silent, looking up at the ceiling from his cot.

“....you didn’t fight back?”

“You did?”

“Of course! String or no string, my people are not the soft pushovers Barb seems to think we are! We put forth our most valiant effort, but alas, by that point she had already gotten your string, and had grown too powerful for us to defeat.”

“Fish, that’s terrible. My people aren’t known to be fighters. Heck, it’s part of why we live in the ocean, so far away from everyone else, in the deepest darkest depths.”

“A natural defense?” Trollzart found himself mildly impressed. “That’s very clever.”

Trollex’s cheeks flushed a little bit with a sheepish grin, and Trollzart could’ve sworn the heart on his chest started to beat a little bit faster. “Hey, I can’t take credit for what my ancestors did!”

The grin, unfortunately, did not grace his face for long. “Didn’t help that Barb still found us and totally crushed our city AND killed our vibe. Some good that defense system did, huh?”

Trollzart pursed his lips, unsure of what to say, before ultimately deciding that Trollex could really use a friend right now. 

“It’s not your fault Barb targeted your people first. She saw you as the most peaceful clan and by extension the easiest target. If she had come for my people first, she may not have been so lucky,” he explained with a chuckle at the end. 

“I surrendered our string at the first sign of trouble. What kind of a leader does that make me?”

Trollzart frowned, unconvinced that Trollex was giving him a completely unbiased response. “I’m sure you did your best to keep your people safe. Truth is, had you put up a fight, it’s entirely possibly she could’ve become much more aggressive and harmed more trolls. I don’t blame you for surrendering your string.”

Trollex looked at him and gave a small smile, but before he could say anything, a loud clattering came from the door. A rock troll in a black beanie seemed to jump back at the sudden noise he had made, holding two smallish trays. He noticed he had gained the attention of his prisoners. “Oh,” he said with a nervous smile, “hello there.”

Trollzart and Trollex shared a look.

“I’m just here to drop off your meals. We may have taken your strings and kept you hostage, but we’re not complete monsters!” He slid the two trays one at a time through a small opening at the bottom of the door. Each tray had a bowl with some sort of wet food substance in it, a large spoon, and a large glass of milk. “Hope you enjoy it! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to-“

“AY RIFF!!! YO, COMMERE FOR A SEC!!”

The prisoners froze up at the sound of Barb’s voice. She sounded far enough away from them, but after what she’d done to their kingdoms, they weren’t taking any chances. 

“Ah, that’s Queen Barb, I gotta go!”

“Wait!!!” Trollzart suddenly flew up from his bed and raced towards Riff, grabbing his wrist through the door before he could get away. 

“Uhhh-“

“Do you what Barb wants with us? Why does she still want us after she’s taken our strings?!?”

“I, uh, don’t actually know that, and even if I did, I don’t, uh, think I’m supposed to tell you? Sorry?” Riff stammered as he removed Trollzart’s little chubby fingers from his wrist with ease.

“RIFF!!!”

“Oh, uh, COMING, YOUR ROCKNESS!!!” Riff yelled as he scampered down a hall Trollzart couldn’t see down.

“Sforzando,” he hissed with a scowl, only vaguely aware of Trollex getting up from his cot and sitting on the ground in near the door.

“Try not to beat yourself up too much over it. I mean, you did more than I could’ve done,” he assured as he took a bowl from and began spooning it into his mouth.

“Perhaps, but it’s not like we got any important information from it,” Trollzart whined as he slowly fluttered down until he was seated on the floor across from Trollex. “Do....do you even know what’s in that?”

Trollex stopped mid-chew and held up his bowl. “This? This is chili! Its what they’ve been serving me every meal I’ve been stuck here. It’s a lil spicy for my own personal taste but it’s not bad!”

“Spicy....hmmm....” If there was one thing that didn’t mix with classical trolls, it was spicy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice here, and he was awfully hungry. 

With a quiet gulp he gently removed his wig, revealing a small tuft if golden hair. He couldn’t be getting chili on it, now could he? He cracked his knuckles, grasped the spoon in his hand, and immediately began shoveling chili in his mouth at lightning speed. 

It was only for a matter of seconds, but every spoonful that entered his mouth felt like it was on fire. Classical trolls were known to have a fairly bland diet, with staple foods including white bread and crackers, with one of their “spicier” delicacies being cheese. But rock trolls apparently went as hard with spices as they did with everything else they did: *very hard*.

The moment the last spoonful of chili went down his throat, Trollzart grabbed his glass of milk in both hands and immediately began chugging it like his life depended on it. If he weren’t filled with concern for the smaller troll, Trollex might have laughed from the sight of Trollzart drinking from a cup just a bit to big for his small body. 

As he desperately slurped up the last few drops of milk, Trollzart slammed his glass onto the floor and fell backward onto his back, breathing heavily. The milk didn’t completely numb the spice, but it definitely lessened the existing burn. Still, that was easily one of the most exhausting meals he’d ever had. 

It took him a second to notice, but Trollzart did notice that the sounds of Trollex eating had stopped. He peered up from his lying down position.

Trollex was staring at him, mouth agape, eyes wide, his spoon dropped into his bowl and currently sinking into his chili. 

“Woah woah woah woah woah woah, pause button, rewind, go back, imma need you to explain something here.”

Trollzart felt his face burn from embarrassment as he sat up. “Ah, yes I suppose eating like that was rather undignified of me, was-“

“That was a _WIG_?!?!?!”

“What.”

“No, like, I seriously thought that was your actual hair this whole time!!” Trollex seemed genuinely disturbed by this revelation. 

Trollzart, on the other hand, was overcome with confusion. “I’m sorry, I just ate an entire bowl of chili in roughly 15 seconds, and you’re shaken up over the fact that I wear a wig?!?!?”

“....Yeah???? I mean it’s not like I knew you were basically bald!!!”

“I’m not bald, I do have hair!! I just happens to be shorter than most trolls!!!” Trollzart cried indignantly as he placed his wig back onto his head. His wings fluttered involuntarily and he found himself floating up by the ceiling as Trollex continued to berate him with questions.

“But why though????”

“Why not?”

“Why?”

“Why not?” 

“W H Y?”

“Look, I don’t want to have to explain how undignified it would be for me, king of the classical trolls, to appear in public with such.... _lacking_....hair! 

Trollex shrugged as he looked up at his companion. “I mean, Barb’s hair is kinda short.”

“Yes, but that’s different,” Trollzart scoffed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. “It’s part of her whole ‘rock image’ or whatever you want to call it. _I’m <_ not trying to get on her level, much less trying to embarrass myself in front of the other rulers." 

Trollex began to feel like he may have pushed a particularly sensitive button, and scratched the back of his head anxiously. "Oh man, I think I may have overstepped my boundaries here, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfrotable."

"It's fine, it's fine, you really didn't know, no real harm done," Trollzart, brushed off, though he floated down a few millimeters more. 

Trollex grinned warmly up at him, and suddenly Trollzart felt his heart race for some reason and there he went floating back up to the ceiling.

"Hey, are you ok?'

"I think I might need a bit of help getting down, my wings seem to be disagreeing with me at the moment, hehe," Trollzart admitted sheepishly. 

Trollex chuckled before before floating upwards and grabbing his small hands, pulling him back down to at least shoulder height.

"This is embarrassing, but I completely forgot that you could fly as well."

"I mean, that's understandable, it's not something you'd expect from a troll that lives in the sea."

All of a sudden, the lights in the hallway turned out, and were replaced with dull, red lights. They looked outside: it was nighttime.

"Looks like it's time to be turning in for the night, huh?" Trollex stated, heading to his cot. 

Trollzart fluttered to his own. "I suppose it is."

As the two kings got comfortable in their cots, a rock troll came by their door, presumably to tell them to go to sleep, but upon seeing the two of them already about to do that, simply nodded with a satisfied "Hmph!" and left them alone for the time being. 

"Goodnight, Trollzart, hope you sleep well."

"Goodnight, Trollex, and you as well."

The kings looked up at the ceiling, clutching their thin blankets close to them, and their brains filled with anxious thoughts of their people and what was yet to come, until slowly the ceiling and the backs of their eyelids became indistinguishable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thats the end of this one!! Or at least, this part. I plan on giving this particular fic 3-5 chapters, so not super long, but long enough to make it interesting. Lemme know if yall have any ideas or suggestions on how to characterize these two because again, they're barely in the movie so it's a lil hard lmao. And finally, i just want to thank everyone in the gay trolls discord server for being so nice and really helping me get ideas for this fic! anyway, I'll seee yall next time!!!
> 
> -CC


	2. The Start To A Long Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trollzart quickly realizes that being a captive is literally the most boring thing ever, especially without his music. Luckily, Trollex has an idea or two to keep them entertained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have so many plans for this fic y’all will not believe. Also I fixed the thing with the water in the last chapter, so y’all can stop calling me out for it.

Trollzart was the first of the kings to awaken. He had always been an early riser, preferring to watch the sun come up and wake the world.

Unfortunately, due to the direction the Anglerfish was going, he didn’t have a direct view of the sun. Still, it was nice to watch the world slowly become brighter and brighter as a new day awakened.

Not to mention it wasn’t like there was anything else to do. 

Other than the two cots and a small port-a-potty in the corner, the cell was essentially barren. Their empty trays of food had disappeared, meaning someone must have gotten them during the night. 

That made sense to Trollzart: the rock trolls seemed like they would party long into the night. Weird that he couldn’t hear it particularly well though.

He heard stirring behind him, and turned to see Trollex groggily attempting to sit up.

“Good morning, King Trollex, I hope you slept well.”

“Ya know,” Trollex started, rubbing his eyes with a tired smile, “we’re both kings, you don’t have to address me by my title.”

Trollzart blushed. “Ah, yes, I suppose that is true. My apologies, I’m rather used to formalities.”

“No worries,” Trollex replies with a shrug, standing up from his bed.

Trollzart couldn’t help but stare as Trollex walked over on his tail flippers. He was lowkey terrified. 

“So.” Trollex leaned into the window. “Any interesting sights out there?”

Trollzart have a halfhearted smile. “Not particularly. The sunrise was beautiful, but all that can be seen for miles is sand. We must be heading for Lonesome Flats. I sure hope Miss Dawn knows what she’s in for.”

“I’m sure Delta will be fine,” Trollex shrugged. 

“What makes you say that? I’m sure you don’t know her particularly well.”

“True, but the few times we have met have definitely made an impression. You know, at my coronation, she punched one of the funk trolls into the punch bowl because they were trying to dance with her when she didn’t want to.”

“I think I might have left before that happened, but that seems like something Miss Dawn would do. She’s very stubborn. I hope Their Royal Funkinesses weren’t too upset with her.”

“Pfft, nah, they understood why she did it and just asked her to come to them next time.”

“Understandable.” Trollzart looked out at the unending desert behind them. 

“Do you think they’ll be able to stop this? The other troll tribes I mean.”

Trollex fixed his gaze out outside as well. “I’m not sure. Delta is strong but she tends to underestimate the other leaders. Quincy and Essence are undeniably prepared, but Barb doesn’t seem like the type to play fair, even with the advantage of the strings.”

“...what about the pop trolls?”

“...”

“Certainly Barb’s reached out to them, as she had with all of us. Maybe they can stop her.”

“Maybe...” Trollex seemed unconvinced, but he knew that the pop trolls were a wild card, with no one having heard from them in a few hundred years. They were basically their best hope at this point. 

The kings stared out the window for a few minutes, watching various cactuses and rocks until they disappeared into the distance. The day was still fairly new, meaning breakfast wouldn’t be there for a good while

“Well, this is so incredibly dull.”

“Yeah, you could say that again.”

“Any ideas on how to pass the time?”

Trollex thought for a moment before replying, “What about a question game? Like, I ask you a question, and then you ask me a question, and we keep going until we get bored!”

“Sounds enjoyable enough.”

“C’mon, lets sit on my cot,” Trollex said as he floated towards his sleeping arrangement. Trollzart felt his wings flutter rapidly, though he wasn’t sure what he had to feel nervous about, so he brushed it off and flew over to Trollex’s bed, sitting delicately by the foot.

“Alright, did you want to go first or should I?”

Trollex chuckled, “I think technically you did just go first, so I’ll start with actual questions.”

Trollzart laughed quietly, “I suppose you’re right.”

“Ok, let’s start with an easy one. Favorite color?”

“Yellow. What’s _your_ favorite color?”

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Trollex cried with fake shock, as Trollzart rolled his eyes with a small smile.

“You never said we had to ask _different_ questions,” he replied with feigned innocence. 

“Ok, ok, ok, fair enough, new rule: we ask a question and we _both_ have to answer it, should it apply to both.”

“Seems fair to me.”

“Also, my favorite color is green.”

“A fine choice. Ah, what is your favorite thing to do after a long day of royal duties?”

“Honestly, I just like to go to my balcony and sit there, listening to all the different voices and and vibes playing in the distance. Its very relaxing, believe it or not.”

“Do your people have music going all night?”

“Yes, some of them are real late rays, but the later it gets, the more they move the raves towards the outskirts of the land, to numb the sound a lil bit for people trying to sleep.” 

“Really! That’s awfully considerate of them.”

“Yeah, us techno trolls really don’t like harshing anyone’s vibe, so we do our best to accommodate for everyone’s needs .What about yourself?”

“Usually, I head towards the library and spend a few hours there. It’s mainly old song books, but I’m fascinated by all the compositions written by the old greats.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Trollex seemed genuinely interested in what Trollzart had to say, which he wasn’t expecting. The times he interacted with non-classical trolls were few and far between, but they all generally seemed to view him, and by extension his music, bland and boring, perhaps a bit overdramatic. Perhaps it was in the naturally kind nature of techno trolls to treat every troll with such respect and intrigue. Still, Trollzart could feel his ears flushing regardless.

Trollex grinned. “Ok, my turn. Got any particularly fun nicknames?”

“Hmmm,” Trollzart had to think hard about this one; the classical trolls were not exactly known for nicknaming each other. “Oh! When I was younger, my mother used to refer to me as Wolfy, short for Wolfgang Amadeus Trollzart, one of the great composers of the past, not to mention the one I was named for.”

“Woah, wait, does that mean your full name is-“

“Oh no no no, I was named after just the Trollzart part.”

“Ohhhhhhh.”

“Yes, mother thought ‘Wolfgang Amadeus’ was a bit much. Still, I always thought it was sweet.”

“AJHSHSSJSJKA THATS SO CUTE!!!!” Trollex exclaimed as he pressed his hands to his face in excitement. Trollzart felt his face get a little bit redder.

“Ah, um, what about you? Surely a king so well acquainted with his people has gained many a nickname over the years.”

“Believe or not, I really don’t have all that many.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Folks generally refer to me by my title, but if they know me really well and are really comfortable around me, they call me ‘Lex.”

“Oh! Like short for Trollex!”

“Yeah, exactly! It’s not the most creative nickname that sprouts from familial ties or a funny experience, but it’s still nice to be referred to as something other than just ‘King Trollex’ sometimes.”

Trollzart smiled with a small laugh. “You lucked out when it comes to names. If my nickname followed the same conventions as yours, my people would refer to me as ‘Zart’,” (Trollex tried and failed to hold back a snicker), “and yes I know, it’s not the most elegant of names.”

“What? Nooooooooo,” Trollex drawled with obvious sarcasm, “Zart is truly the most sophisticated name a troll of your stature could have bestowed upon themselves.”

Trollzart rolled his eyes playfully as Trollex giggled at his own lame joke. “Alright, alright, you’ve made your point clear. My turn to ask a question.”

“Ok, ask away.”

Trollzart had to think for a moment. “Do you mind if I ask kind of a serious question?”

“Uh...sure, I don’t see why not.”

“How do you think our people are doing?”

Trollzart immediately regretted asking that. Trollex’s almost carefree nature and grinning face disappeared almost immediately. His face dropped and became hard to read, though the drooping of his earfins gave his emotions away. Trollex turned to look out the window, and with a heavy sigh, began to speak.

“I.....genuinely don’t even have the first idea as to what their status is. I overheard some rockers talking about how the general population was taken back to Volcano Rock City in some of those smaller creature-buses. I mean, that’s not what’s worrying me; I’d rather have them be all the way in Volcano Rock City than still in the creature buses, because those definitely have to fill up fast and that cannot be safe. Still, I can’t help but worry about them. Us techno trolls aren’t exactly built for the heat. I hope they have enough access to water. But what if they don’t? What if they are forced to dry out?” 

Trollex was staring blankly out the window, as though if he looked hard enough, he could see what was happening to the techno trolls. His eyes seemed full of water on the verge of spilling over, and the heart on his chest seemed to be beating faster by the second.

“I just...... I just don’t want anyone to get hurt,” he mumbled quietly. “I never wanted to be a part of this.”

Trollzart was never the best at emotions, especially not other people’s, but right now, he had a hunch about what might be helpful in this moment.

He flew up, just enough to take him off the surface of the cot, floated over to Trollex, and gently wrapped his short arms around him, as far as they would go. 

Trollex returned the gesture, burying his face in Trollzart’s wig. He wasn’t crying, but his breathing was uneven and Trollzart could feel his hands trembling against his back.

“I really don’t think Barb would withhold water from your people. I mean, she’s been feeding us right? Surely she has a basic idea of how to take care of our basic needs.”

“......”

“I shouldn’t have asked you that question. I’m sorry. I should’ve realized how much that would’ve upset you.”

“S’ ok,” Trollex mumbled into the wig, the sound slightly muffled from the fake hairs. “Y’ din’t know this’d happen.”

“Still.” Trollzart sighed, clenching his eyes shut. “I don’t blame you for panicking. I’m worried about my people too. We may have put up a fight when Barb first came, but we are not known for our physical strengths. I just hope no one gets hurt too badly.”

“Yeah, me too. There really isn’t a whole ton we can do right now, just sit and hope,” Trollex said, lifting his head from Trollzart’s wig. He still seemed very nervous, but his breathing at least seemed to even out a bit. Trollzart’s head was pressed against his companion’s chest, and he could hear the quickened beating of his heart.

“And so we wait.”

And so they did, sitting in silence, holding each other for comfort, waiting for Barb to decide their fates, for help to hopefully be eminent, and for breakfast to arrive.

The silence lasted a few short minutes before Trollex ultimately decided to break it. 

“So like, do all classical trolls wear wigs or just you?”

Trollzart groaned in mild irritation, causing Trollex to burst into a fit of laughter. “I can’t believe it, betrayed by my own fellow king, I thought I could trust you,” he deadpanned, letting go of Trollex, allowing himself to fall backwards and roll away from him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disrespect you-“ Trollex started, wiping a tear from his eye.

“More than you already have?” Trollzart interrupted, though he was smiling without any malice.

“Haha, okay-“

“Um, excuse me?”

The kings’ attention was drawn to the door, where Riff had already slid their breakfast trays through the opening. It was chili again.

“Breakfast is served,” he announced with a nervous yet not unkind look.

And then he scurried off, presumably to do other rock troll things. 

“Wonder why it took so long for breakfast to get here.”

“Well, they are rock trolls. I don’t expect that they’d be considered ‘early birds’. Its, what, already late morning, maybe early afternoon? And I think this is still considered early to them.”

“.....True. But anyway, as I was saying,” Trollex continued, floating off his bed to grab his tray from the floor, “if you’re seriously uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer it.”

“No, no, really it’s fine.” Trollzart flew down from the cot to the floor. “I am, to my knowledge, the only _ahem_ ‘hair impaired’ troll in the classical kingdom, but it’s not exactly a secret. I mean, it was through the kindness of my people that I even received this wig.”

“Really? What did they do?” Trollex asked, already spooning chili into his mouth, clearly interested. 

“Once they learned of my predicament, they all handed together and made a wig out of sheep’s wool. I later learned as it was being made, it was secretly passed between trolls so that suspicion wouldn’t fall on any Then it was styled and presented to me.” Trollzart chuckled. “I vividly remember crying at their generosity.”

“That’s so sweet! And they made it look just like their own hair, didn’t they?”

“Oh no, that’s the best part!” They all decided to style their hair to match my wig....”

Trollex was awestruck. “Did they really?”

Trollzart smiled bashfully, fiddling with his jacket sleeves. “Yes. Apparently the decision was unanimous. I’m not sure what I did to deserve such loving subjects but,” he sighed and placed his hands over his heart, “they truly are a blessing.”

Trolled felt himself grow warm at the sight of Trollzart showing such genuine affection for his people. He couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but something about the way Trollzart and his people had such a genuine deep-rooted respect for each other made him feel.......good. Perhaps it was because he also came from a tribe of trolls that was very close with one another, or perhaps-

“Alright, enough tomfoolery,” Trollzart announced as he took off his wig. “Time to get this over with.”

Trollzart watched helplessly as Trollzart repeated his method of spooning chili furiously into his mouth in a matter of seconds before chugging the milk provided like his life depended on it. 

He may have been a little terrified, but he was still impressed. 

As soon as Trollzart was done and lay on the ground looking like he was on the verge on dying from spice overload, though, the Anglerfish noticeably came to a halt. Whoops and cheers could be heard from various rock trolls outside their little cell.

“What’s going on?” Trollzart asked, weakly returning his wig to his head.

“I think,” Trollex said as realization dawned on him, “we just arrived in Lonesome Flats.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was gonna be a lot longer but I don’t want to make it too long lest I get too ahead of myself, so we be splitting it into more parts. Hope y’all liked it, and please give me your feedback bc I really don’t know what I’m doing :) see y’all next time!!  
> -CC


	3. A New Prisoner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Delta Dawn is joining the prison squad and she is not one bit happy about it. Unfortunately for Trollex and Trollzart, she is going to make this everyone else’s problem now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because it can’t be 100% just Trollzart and Trollex. We do be loving the other troll leaders though. Also we didn’t see barb actually take the country string so you know I had to write something about that.

As Delta and her crew of fellow country trolls trotted back into town, their hunt for the escapees fruitless, she couldn’t help but notice the large black shapes off in the distance barreling towards the town. 

She sighed. A mayor’s work was truly never done.

As she made her way to the edge of town, the citizens chatting somewhat nervously amongst themselves, Growly Pete came up beside her and grumbled, “ Growly growly growl growl.”

“I know, but I’m not worried about her. She may have numbers, but we have strength. If she wants our string, she’ll have to take it from me herself,” Delta stated, her eyes never moving away from the horizon.

Growly Pete sighed with a solemn nod, words escaping him.

The creatures, large and dark and angry-looking, suddenly stopped, skidding to a halt a few feet in front of town with a huge cloud of dust. The dust barreled through town, leaving trolls to turn away or shield their eyes. Delta didn’t move, squeezing her eyes shut until the dust cloud had past.

When she reopened them, she saw that the mouth of the largest of the creatures, a fish-like being, had unzipped, and a purple troll with odd red hair strolled out, holding an electric guitar and acting like she owned the place.

The two ladies stared at each other, one filled with an unbridled determination to keep things as they were, the other smug and confident in her past accomplishments. The seconds seemed to pass like hours until finally one of them spoke up. 

“Mayor Delta Dawn,” Barb said with a smirk and a nod of acknowledgement.

“Queen Barb.”

“We both know why I’m here, Delta. I’m assuming you got my letter?”

Delta’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, I did, but you’re a bigger fool than I thought if you think you’re getting our string today, so you best be turning around and going on your merry way.”

This seemed to humor Barb, causing her to burst into a loud fit of obnoxious cackling. “Pretty bold of you to assume that your silly little banjos can defeat me. Why don’t you come over to the rock side? I mean, all your music sounds the same anyway, you could use the *variety*!” 

On that last word, Barb shredded a chord on her guitar with a menacing grin, sending a wave of red lightning out towards the town. 

Delta took a deep breath as she gripped her banjo tightly and got into a defensive stance. She quickly plucked out a quick range of chords, big orange swirls flowing out from her. The swirls collided with the lightning and the force drove them both high into the sky.

Barb’s confident snark seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving her completely and utterly shocked. _Wow, didn’t know they could do that,_ she thought as she gaped at the country trolls, who were hooting and hollering at their leader’s actions.

Now it was Delta’s turn to smirk. “You might’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Barbeque. I’ll tell you what; if you leave now, we won’t try to stop you. It’ll be a *very* distinguished surrender,”  
She drawled, pretending to inspect her fingernails to project her confidence.

Barb snarled and grasped the neck of her guitar so hard it would have choked. “You think this is over?” She yelled, “Oh no! I’ll take you down by myself if I have to!”

Delta’s eyes narrowed. “Oh really? Is that so?”

Barb waved over riff and whispered something to him, getting a nod in response, before she did a flip out of the mouth of the Anglerfish. She pointed an angry finger at Delta. “You. Me. String battle. Winner takes all.”

Delta knew, deep down in her soul, that Barb had something sneaky planned, but she couldn’t risk appearing weak in front of her people. She was only a mayor, after all, and just because she’d been re-elected before didn’t endure future votes in her favor. She didn’t want her people to think she couldn’t step up when the time called for it.

“Fine.”

Barb grinned. Delta’s face only grew firmer.

The two of them slowly began walking towards each other. Both the country trolls and the rock trolls were silent, waiting to see what their leaders would do. Other than the wind and the occasional tumbleweed, it was silent and still as ever.

As she approached her opponent, Delta heard Clampers whisper encouragingly from inside her up-do, “You can do it, Aunt Delta! I just know you can!”

Delta huffed out a small laugh as she stopped in front of Barb, about 20 paces away. At least she knew *someone* was rooting for her, regardless of what happened.

The two leaders stared each other down, waiting for one of them to make the first move.

Suddenly Barb started shredding various chords. Immediately Delta retorted with her own notes. Sharp red lightning and swirling orange curly-ques clashed in a bright fireball between the two of them. Both Barb and Delta’s eyes bore holes into the others skull as their fingers plucked the strings tirelessly.

Both genres of trolls cheered their respective leader on, watching excitedly as the ball of light and energy got bigger and bigger above them.

Delta was so focused on the movement of her her own fingers, the sweat beading on her forehead, the slowly but steadily building ball of musical energy, that she didn’t notice the incredibly obvious twitching of Barb’s ears.

She didn’t notice as Riff and some other stage hands rolled a big amp to the front of the Anglerfish’s mouth.

And she definitely didn’t notice as Riff grinned and turned the amp on. 

The effect was incredible and immediate; a huge wave of red lighting shot from the amp so quick that by the time Delta saw it coming, it was too late. She was knocked back by the sudden force, causing her to stop playing and the fireball of energy to barrel towards the town along with the wave of lightning. 

Country trolls scrambled to get out of the way as the energy struck. Buildings toppled over and caught on fire, doors were ripped from their hinges, windows burst from the pressure, and worst of all, the clock above the Mayor's office was blown clean off the rest of the building.

Delta groaned as she struggled to get up. The energy of their music had blown her a good distance away, throwing her roughly to the ground. Somewhere in the air, she had lost her banjo, and she hadn't the slightest idea where it had gone.

"Are you alright, Aunt Delta?" 

"I'll be fine, Clampers," she assured her niece, "just a few bumps and bruises, nothing I haven't been through- JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!??!!?"

Barb was holding her banjo proudly, a troop of rock trolls coming up behind her. Delta tried to run up to her and save her string but the other rockers were quicker and grabbed her arms before she could get too close. Delta struggled against them for a moment before watching in horror as more and more rock trolls came up, their guitars pointed at her and sneering menacingly. 

"Seems like your hillbilly hogwash was no match for the supreme awesomeness of rock," Barb stated with a sly grin, carelessly plucking the orange string out of the banjo before wrapping it around her wrist and tossing the banjo to the ground. 

"No!" Delta fruitlessly tried to pull from the grip of her captors. "This isn't right, you can't just take our music away!"

Barb smirked. "Oh, but here's the thing: I can," she got real close to Delta's face, "and I did."

She turned over her shoulder and threw up horns over her shoulder as she walked towards the Lonesome Flats.

Delta, stubborn as ever and failing her need to get the last word in, yelled out as the rockers started to drag her towards the Anglerfish, "You're just as bad as the Pop trolls all those years ago!"

Barb stopped dead in her tracks. The other rockers paused in obvious fear.

Slowly, she turned to look Delta dead in the eyes, with a fire that made Delta's blood run cold.

"I," she growled, "am *NOTHING* like them."

Delta swallowed hard. Clearly, she'd hit a nerve, and she wasn't exactly in a position to be bargaining for forgiveness.

"Take her to the bus."

The rockers threw up some horns with their free hands as a sort of salute before continuing to drag the country leader towards the bus.

——————————————————————————

Trollex and Trollzart heard Delta long before they saw her. Her angered yells echoed throughout the mostly empty Anglerfish.

The kings shared a look. This certainly was going to be an experience.

Before long, a rock troll unlocked the door to their cell, threw open the door before some other trolls shoved her in.

She immediately spun on her back hooves and charged back at the door, but they had already relocked it.

“JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!” She hollered, attempting time reach through the bars to grab the trolls that imprisoned her. “DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I WON’T BUST OUT OF THIS CHICKEN COOP AND WRANGLE YOUR SKINNY LITTLE NECKS?? THIS ISN’T OVER, YOU DEGENERATE DONKEYS!!!!”

The rock trolls merely snickered and turned to leave, whispering amongst themselves about how “she sure is a feisty one” and “I wonder how long it’ll take for her to break”.

She continued to claw fruitlessly at the air and grumbled as they walked down the hall. As they turned the corner and left her sight, she let her arm and head drop with a deep sigh.

Trollex stared at her for a second before slowly and cautiously approaching her. "Hey, he started, "are you-?"

Suddenly her head snapped up and she spun around, shoving past Trollex towards the window. 

Trollzart managed to catch him before he hit the ground. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Trollex assured him, returning to his fins as he looked over at Delta.

Delta Dawn stared heartbroken out the window, her hands pressed firmly against the glass. She saw her town, the one she worked so hard to keep safe, in ruins: burned and broken, with graffiti lining what few buildings still stood. She saw her people, the ones she'd do anything to keep safe, being led into the other fish-buses at guitar-point by the rockers. She could vaguely make out the mustachio'd face of Growly Pete, his hands gripped around her banjo. She almost smiled. She'd rather have him hang onto her prized possession than anyone else, especially when it came to the rock trolls. 

There was a hesitant yet reassuring hand placed on her shoulder. She turned to see Trollex, giving her a look of empathy. "It's hard, right? Watching this all go down and not being able to do anything about it?"

Delta let out a frustrated groan. "You don't know the half of it."

"Actually," Trollzart interjected, "I'd argue that we're the only ones that know exactly what you're going through right now."

Delta took a deep breath, and the kings tensed up a bit, expecting the worst of her anger. But she just sighed, taking her hat and just holding it in her hands. "It's just," she started, "I feel like I should've been able to do more, you know? To stop her."

"Hey, at least you put up a fight," Trollex said with a humorless laugh.

"At least you were able to hold your ground," Trollzart added with a solemn nod.

There was a strong silence as the three leaders stared out the window, watching helpessly as the country trolls were rounded up like cattle and loaded up. It was hard to watch, especially since it reminded the kings of what they had already had to endure, and yet none of them could look away. 

Then, a small voice spoke up. "What's gonna happen now, Aunt Delta?"

Trollex and Trollzart jolted in surprise, their eyes darting around frantically in search of the source of the noise. 

Delta merely replaced her hat, parted her hair and took Clampers out, holding her in her hands. "I'm not sure, sweetie," she admitted. "But don't you worry your pretty little head about it, I promise I'll keep you safe."

Clampers smiled sadly and launched forward into her aunt's arms. Delta returned the hug, struggling to not cry in front of her. She had to remain strong for her niece.

"So uh...." Trollex interrupted.

"....there was a child....."

"...inside your hair....."

"....the entire time?" Trollzart finished.

“Oh yeah, this is my niece, Clampers.” She set her down on the ground. “Go on now, introduce yourself.”

“Howdy,” she said with a cheerful wave.

“Hey there! I’m King Trollex, leader of the techno trolls,” Trollex introduced as he stuck out a hand. Clampers immediately clamped her teeth over Trollex’s hand. “OH FISH OH FISH OH FISH OH FISH!” Trollex began vigorously shaking his hand as an attempt to make her let go. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable and he didn’t enjoy it one bit.

Trollzart looked at Delta, who was watching this go down with an amused smile. “Aren’t you going to do anything?” He asked incredulously.

"Nah, I want to see how long it takes him to get her off."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're ending it here because idk where to go with it yet lmao. Hopefully we get more leader interactions next chapter, I have a general idea of what I want to do. Thanks for putting up with my tomfoolery. See y'all next time!!!
> 
> -CC


	4. A Series of Probably Avoidable Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thing about placing a bunch of people from vastly different backgrounds, with no prior knowledge of each other, is that the chances of them all getting along immediately and at all times afterwards are few and far between, despite what any pop troll might tell you. Though it also isn’t entirely possible for friendships to be formed, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the last chapter was kinda lacking in crescendo moments, I will admit, but I’m about to make up for that in this chapter. It’s crescendo hours, babey, y’all ain’t even ready for this

Riff walked down the hall, 3 trays of food balanced in his arms.

He really hoped that Delta wouldn’t try to pull anything when he brought them all food. Not because he couldn’t handle it physically; he was actually a lot stronger than he looked. He just didn’t want to deal with that while holding a large amount of food.

As he turned to open the cell door, he felt his eyes widening underneath his beanie.

Trollex had somehow gotten a small child (whom Riff was almost certain he had *not* seen come into the bus) clamped over his hand, and was screaming very loudly as Trollzart grabbed two of her legs and was tanking as hard as he could, trying and failing to tell Trollex to calm down. He was also screaming. The feral child was nomming away at the hand like it was a frozen treat on a hot day. Delta merely smiled and watched in amusement, crossing her arms in satisfaction as the scene before her unfolded.

Riff slowly backed away from the door and started making his way back towards the kitchen. Prisoner or not, he was not going to let this small child go hungry.

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 2 minutes, Delta finally sighed and said, “Ok, Clampers, I think they’ve had enough.”

In the blink of an eye, Clampers let go of Trollex’s hand and plopped down on the floor with a smile. Delta beckoned to her niece and she excitedly trotted over and climbed into her aunt’s hair.

Trollex and Trollzart stared at her, completely dumbfounded.

“You know,” Delta drawled, her voice hinted with mischief, “if you asked her politely to stop, she would have. My Clampers was raised to have manners, of course.”

Trollzart, who was closer than he’d like to admit to losing his temper on this country troll, managed to get out, in as civil a tone he could manage, “That would’ve been good to know beforehand. But _thanks for the heads up._ ”

Trollex put a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s ok, I’m sure she didn’t mean any ill will. Besides, it’s not Clampers caused any severe damage or anything, see?” He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers around to demonstrate their well-being. “Nothing to stress over.”

Trollzart opened his mouth to argue no, there *was* something to stress over, and it was Delta’s audacity to withhold helpful information like that, when suddenly 3 trays of food (with one having an additional, smaller bowl of chili and glass of milk) slid through the opening at the bottom of the cell door.

Riff did a quick headcount of the prisoners. “That’s weird....where did, uh, that kid go?” He asked rhetorically, scratching his head.

The leaders just kinda looked at each other before looking at Riff awkwardly.

There was an uncomfortable pause before Riff shrugged and said, “oh well, guess she’ll eat it when she comes back, enjoy your lunch, I guess,” threw up some horns and slunk back into the hallway.

Clampers squealed excitedly from inside Delta’s hair. “Oh boy! There’s food?!?”

“Now hang on a minute, missy,” Delta scolded, getting closer to the chili to inspect it. “We don’t know if these rock trolls are trying anything tricky.”

“Like what?” 

Delta glared at the bowls. “ _Poison_.”

“POISON?!?!?” Trollex shrieked in terror, clutching the closest thing he could: Trollzart’s wig. “Could they really have poisoned us?!??”

Luckily, it didn’t entirely come off, just kind of twisted on his head. Trollzart sighed. The way this day was going, this might as well happen.

“I highly doubt we were poisoned,” he stated. 

“What makes you so sure about that?” Delta asked, clearly irritated that her concerns were being brushed aside.

“Well first of all,” Trollzart started, peeling Trollex’s arms from his wig, “if the food had been poisoned, Trollex would’ve been dead long before I even got here.”

Trollex thought about it for a second before smiling sheepishly. “Oh yeah, I guess that’s true, hehe.”

Trollzart half-heartedly rolled his eyes at his companion as he adjusted his wig and continued, “and second of all, there’s no reason to start poisoning us now, out of nowhere. They don’t even have all the leaders yet!”

Delta considered this for a moment before nodding and muttering, “Yes, I suppose that is a good point. But we still can’t be certain, can we?”

Trollzart brought his hands to his face and sighed, deeply and loudly. He fluttered down and actually walked on his stubby little legs towards the trays. He plopped down with a little _thud_. With a quick swipe he picked up a spoon and grabbed the little one clearly intended for Clampers.

“Hey dude-?”

“I think we can all agree that Miss Clampers would find the larger portion more suitable to her needs, yes?”

“Well, yeah, but aren’t you gonna take off-?”

Trollzart quickly shot Trollzart a stern look and shook his head and motioned his spoon hand in front of his throat: the universal sign for ‘do not continue speaking or so help me’. 

Trollex got the hint, stammering, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, yeah, I totally get that, I completely get that, don’t wanna like, make you uncomfortable or anything,” and awkwardly staring away and pretending to hide a piece of hair behind his earfin. This was particularly interesting for Delta to watch as his hair didn’t even naturally fall behind his earfin.

She just barely managed to return her gaze towards Trollzart before he practically inhaled the contents of the small bowl. She blinked a few times, unsure of what she was witnessing, as he chugged the contents of one of the glasses of milk. Once he was done, he slammed the glass onto the tray and took a deep breath.

Noticing her surprised look, Trollzart deadpanned, “I can’t tolerate spice.”

Delta couldn’t really do anything but nod in agreement.

Trollzart stared at her a little moment longer, not seeming to notice as Trollex carefully picked out a few loose pieces of chili out of his wig. 

“The food is not poisoned,” he stated, “and I am going to take a nap.”

And with that, he flew over to one of the cots, lied down and tossed the thin blanket over his tiny form.

There was a short pause before Clampers shouted, “Whoooo! Mr. Trollzart said it was safe!” before popping out of Delta’s hair and grabbing one of the bigger bowls of chili, tearing into it with her bare hands.

Trollex chuckled. “Does she always get this excited around food?”

Delta, having somewhat recovered from watching Trollzart eat, smiles. “Yeah, she’s always been a hungry gal, this one. Never seems to get full no matter how much we fill her up.”

Trollex sat on the floor next to Clampers, who didn’t seem to notice. As he took his bowl, he added, “We might have to ask the guards for another serving.”

Delta scoffed, “And you think they’ll give us some?” 

“Fair enough.” Trollex said as he began to dig in.

The three are silently for a few minutes, the only sounds coming them eating, as well as Trollzart’s quiet snoring drifting over from the cot. 

“Hmm, he sure fell asleep quick.”

“Yeah he did. Wonder what his deal was, this hasn’t happened before.”

“Speaking of before,” and as she said that, Trollex realized with some slight dread what she was going to bring up, “what were you trying to say earlier? Before Mr. Babyface over there started inhalin’ chili, I mean.”

Trollex began to spoon chili into his mouth a little more quickly.

Delta gave him an expectant look.

Clampers was too enraptured in licking her bowl clean.

Trollex, having accepted that he wasn’t going to avoid answering, swallowed the mouthful and stammered, “I-I just don’t really think it’s my place to say, I mean, it was something ‘Zart told me in confidence, out of necessity. I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough, but in the meantime, I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking here.”

Delta stared at him for a second before shrugging and continue to munch on her lunch. “Seems reasonable to me.”

“Wait, really?”

“Well, yeah. I’m not gonna push if you’re not gonna tell me anything, and it’s not like any of us are in a position to be interrogating anyone else. The conversation doesn’t need to go any further.”

“Oh.”

“Why, did you think I was gonna beat you like a scrambled egg?” Delta jokingly asked.

“......uh, I- in my defense, you can be pretty intimidating!” Trollex cried as he looked away, a little embarrassed.

It wasn’t for long though, because he soon felt a small tug on his wrist. “Mr. Trollex, sir, are you gonna finish that?”

“Now, Clampers-“

“No she’s fine,” Trollex assured, handing the child his half eaten bowl. “I wasn’t too hungry anyway.”

Clampers immediately filled her face with more chili, gaining bemused smiled from her aunt and chili donor.

“Welp,” Delta started, making her way to her feet, “I think I might take a nap, too. This has been a very hard and very long day-“

“I don’t doubt it.”

“-and I really just want to rest for a bit.”

“No, I totally get it. You can take the other cot if you want.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it.” She clopped over to the cot and somehow managed to roll onto with out too much trouble. Trollex wondered if it was more difficult because of her horse half.

“Oh, and before I forget to ask,” Delta piped up as she lay on the cot, facing him, “......’Zart?”

“Huh?”

“Earlier, when you were talking about Trollzart, you called him ‘Zart. What’s that all about?”

Trollex’s face flushed, and he awkwardly began to scratch the back of his head. “Oh, didn’t even notice I did that, heh. We were talking about nicknames earlier and I guess that just might’ve stuck with me.”

“Hm. Okay.” There was indescribable emotion in Delta’s voice, but before Trollex could ask what she was thinking, she turned around to face the wall, promptly ending the conversation.

Trollex hummed before turning back towards Clampers, who had finished licking her bowl clean.

“So, what now?” She asked.

Trollex shrugged. “You know Rock, Kelp, Lobster?”

“.....huh?”

“You know, that game where you throw one of three hand positions to see who beats who?”

“You mean Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

“Same thing, different names,” Trollex assured her. 

“Sure, lets go. But just so you know, I’m gonna win!” 

“We’ll see about that,” he said with a playful smirk.

The two trolls each held a hand palm up, and pounded their fists against the open palm three times before throwing their choice.

Rock and rock. Lobster and scissors. Kelp and paper. Scissors and lobster. Rock and rock. Paper and kelp. Rock and rock. Rock and rock.

“How do we even keep picking the same thing?” Trollex cried in astonishment. “This is supposed to be a game of chance?”

Clampers suggested, “Maybe we should try to do the same one instead of different ones?”

Lobster and Scissors. Rock and rock. Kelp and paper. Paper and kelp. Rock and rock. Scissors and lobster. Scissors and lobster. Lobster and a thumbs up.

“Hey that’s not even an option!”

“It is now. This ain’t going nowhere fast.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m just gonna let you change the rules of Rock, Kelp, Lobster on me like that! There are rules for a reason!”

“Well the new rule is that there are no rules.”

Trollex sighed. This was going to be a long afternoon.

——————————————————————————

Trollzart suppressed a yawn as he scrunched up his eyes and turned to his side. He slowly rubbed his eyes as he drifted back to consciousness.

“.......somethiiiiiiiing.....green!”

“Is it that bush down there?”

“No, but you’re close....”

He could hear the voices, but when he flipped around to face the rest of the cell, it appeared empty.

“Is it........those huge flowers?”

“Oh so _that’s_ what those are called! Yeah, you got it, kiddo!”

“Yessssssssssss!”

Trollzart sat up in his cot and looked around.

Trollex and Clampers were at the window, Clampers sitting atop the king's head, with her hands spreading his ponytail apart so she could see. 

"I spy, with my little eye........... somethiiiiiiiiiiiiing puffy!

"Is it........those beeshes?"

"They're called bushes, actually, and nope, not even close."

"Ohhhhhh, right! I keep forgetting that one."

Trollzart smiled at the sight. Something about seeing Trollex act so warmly towards this kid made his heart swell up. Something about the way he talked to her seemed so natural, so genuine. Something filled his body with warmth and joy and he didn't know why.

"Is it theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee clouds?!?" Trollex exclaimed as he remembered what the word he was looking for was.

"Yes!!!"

"Yeahhhhhhh, I'm so good at Eye Spy."

"Oh really? Is that so?" Trollzart asked as he flew over, startling the other two. "I wasn't aware that you were a master Eye Spy player, Trollex.”

"Pshhhh, I wouldn’t say I’m a _master_ , exactly” he brushed off.

Clampers looked shocked at this statement. “Are you kiddin’ me?! You’ve been able to find everything I spied, and you didn’t even hafta’ ask for hints! You’re pretty great at Eye Spy, if I do say so myself.”

Oh yeah, I forgot you declared yourself ‘Queen of Playtime’, your majesty,” Trollex chuckled, very carefully giving a small bow with the child still perched atop his head. 

Trollzart smiled asked, “What kind of shenanigans did you two get up while I was asleep?”

Clampers immediately began to ramble on about their afternoon. “Well, at first we played Rock, Paper, Scissors, but Mr. Trollex had a weird name for it, and also we kept getting the same thing, so then he taught me a really fun clapping game that I forget what it’s called, but it was really fun! And then, after that, we played Simon says, and then, after that, Mr. Trollex noticed that it was different outside, and I taught him a bunch of words that he didn’t know super well because he lives underwater, and then we played Eye Spy!!!”

The door to the little port-a-potty in the corner swung open, and Delta stepped out, looking a little concerned. “I’m sorry, sweetie,” she started, “but did you say it looks ‘different’ outside?”

Clampers nodded gleefully, squealed, “Uh-huh! Look!” and pointed eagerly out the window.

Both Delta and Trollzart got closer to the window and saw what she was referring to. Rather than the open canyons of Lonesome Flats, or even the glittery desert where Funk City floated, it was a place much brighter and colorful than what either of them could’ve imagined. Enormous trees, taller than a hundred trolls, shot up everywhere, nearly blocking out the sky with their plentiful branches and leaves. The ground was covered in lush green grass with little groupings of rainbow colored flowers popping up occasionally. Bushes filled with various berries could sometimes be glimpsed as the Anglerfish sped by, and small critters disappeared in a moment as they ran away in fear. 

“Where........*are* we?” Trollzart asked, not expecting an answer.

Delta continued to stare in awe, shaking her head slightly in disbelief, before suddenly she realized.

“Y’all, I think we’re heading towards-“

The Anglerfish suddenly jolted to a stop, sending the everyone but Trollzart, who was still flying, to the ground.

“Oh, goodness, are you three okay?” He asked as he flittered down to help Trollex to his fins.

Delta helped Clampers up before slowly making her own way up, groaning, “Just a few bumps and bruises, we’re fine.”

The clattering of trays grabbed the prisoners’ attention towards the door. The bowls of food had been haphazardly shoved through the slot, causing them to spill a little as they came through. 

The rock troll that was standing there was not the one that usually brought them their food. She looked a lot meaner, and snickered a insincere “oops” at her actions. 

Still, she clearly wasn’t Barb, so that had to count for some sort of luck.

Trollzart, who could tell something was up and was feeling brave, demanded, “What’s going on? We shouldn’t be eating for at least another few hours!”

The rock troll made an over-exaggerated pouty face and whined, “Oh nooooooooo, Fairy Boy doesn’t get his food at the right time! How sad, boo hoo!” before cackling at Trollzart’s offended face.

“Hope you dweebs are ready for a new friend, we’re about to raid Pop Village.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And before y’all ask, I’m not doing the thing I did with the last chapter and writing how Barb conquered Pop Village. However, I do have something else planned so, be ready for that. Also, I have a few big ship things planned for the next chapter too so like, >:) anyway, see y’all next time!! 
> 
> -CC


	5. Cots and Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the recent addition of the elusive leader (?) of pop, our heroes try to figure out what’s happened to pop after all these years (as well as sleeping arrangements).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THERE WERE ONLY TWO BEDS. AND THERE WERE ONLY TWO FREAKIN’ BEDS. I HOPE YALL ARE READY FOR MORE OBVIOUS CRESCENDO CONTENT BC I AIM TO DELIVER, HERE, ON THE ONLY CRESCENDO FIC ON AO3. 
> 
> (so far, at least)

Riff watched anxiously from behind Thrash as Barb paced around the room in anger. Thrash snored quietly in his wheelchair, unaware of how close his daughter was to going on another angry rampage.

“I can’t believe she wasn’t even here!” Barb yelled, kicking a nearby amp. 

“It’s not completely, uh, surprising, Your Rockness,” Riff piped up, completely aware that he could be the target of her next outburst. “You did send the bounty hunters after her long before we got here.”

Barb ran her hands through her mohawk. “It’s not like we can put all our faith into them. I mean, theres only so many of them, and she could anywhere,” she sighed.

Riff let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. This was good: she was calming down a bit. “At least we’re know she has the string for sure this time, or something.”

“Poppy having the string doesn’t make it any easier to find her, Riff,” Barb complained as she stomped over to her throne and plopped down moodily. “We don’t even know how we can get the string from her. For all we know, she doesn’t even have it anymore!”

“We could still, um, use this against her though, can’t we?”

“What do you mean?”

“W-well, if we find her, we can tell her that we won’t let her, um, I think that was her dad, or her people go, uh, unless she gives us the string, or something?”

Barb considered this. Then she smirked. “Great thinking, Riff. Maybe one of these days I’ll have you promoted to ‘paid intern’.”

Riff smiled sheepishly. He really didn’t know if Barb’s plan was really the right thing to do, or even if it would work out in the end, but in the end it made his best friend happy, and he was ok with it. “Really?”

“Nah, but I do appreciate you.”

——————————————————————————

“So how do y’all suppose we deal with this?” Delta asked, gesturing towards the troll in front of them.

Trollzart shook his head. "I haven't the faintest idea."

The three leaders stood by the cell door, staring down the man cowering in the corner. His hair was frizzy and pink, and a shaky orange hand held his cane out like a weapon, his eyes wider than saucers.

Delta had ushered Clampers into her hair as soon as that rocker left, to keep her from any serious damage that could be left by the pop trolls. They hadn’t been heard from in decades: she hadn’t wanted to take any changes should they be dangerous.

Though she had to admit, she was not expecting the man in front of her, who ran to the corner in fear nearly as soon as he was tossed inside, and she was willing to believe that the other two felt the same.

Trollex looked at him thoughtfully, before giving a small smile. “Hey,” he greeted, sticking his hand out for a shake.

This somehow frightened the troll, causing him to dart around the others, quicker than they were expecting from such an old man, and dive into the port-a-potty. The leaders watched helplessly as the little handle flipped from ‘vacant’ to ‘occupied’.

Trollex slowly retracted his hand. “Ok, so he doesn’t like handshakes, cool,” he muttered, more to himself than anything.

“I’m not sure that that was because anything you did, ‘Lex,” Trollzart assured him, blind to the bemused expression Delta was making behind him. “I’m sure he would’ve done that regardless of what happened.

“What is his issue?” Delta asked indignantly. “And why is he so scared of us? It’s not like we even did anything to him?”

Trollex sighed, “I don’t know. Maybe the rockers freaked him out so bad that he thinks all non-pop trolls are like that.

“Doesn’t make it any less irritating that he won’t even hear us out,” Delta complained as she crossed her arms. 

A small quiet yawn escaped Delta’s hair. Upon her opening it, the leaders spotted Clampers, curled into a little ball, fast asleep.

Any remaining annoyance in Delta’s face melted into warm appreciation as she gently took her niece out of her hair and placed her in her arms. “Well would you look at that,” she mused softly. “I was hoping she wouldn’t have too much trouble sleeping, what after all we’ve been through today.”

“I can’t say I blame her,” Trollzart piped up. “Look, night’s already fallen.”

And it had: the window could barely be seen out of, small glimpses of moonlight bouncing off the leaves all that was able to be seen through the pitch darkness. As if I’m cue, the lights in the hallway cut out as dull red lights took their place.

“Suppose we’d better figure out our sleeping arrangements,” Trollex mentioned as he suppressed a yawn and stretched out his arms.

He looked over to see Delta and Trollzart staring at him questionably.

“What? There’s only two cots. We have to figure out who’s sleeping where.”

And, realization dawning on their faces, they looked at the cots.

There was only two of them.

And yet the amount of people in the room had more than doubled.

Trollzart muttered in surprise, “oh dear.”

With a shrug, Trollex assured them, “Relax, I have an idea that might suit everyone’s needs.”

Delta and Trollzart shared a look before nodding.

“Alright.”

“Not like we have any better ideas.”

“So I’m thinking,” Trollex gestured towards the cot farthest away from the port-a-potty, “Delta and Clampers can sleep there, since I doubt either of you would be comfortable sleeping with one of us....well, we're essentially strangers.”

Delta nodded, unable to keep a small relieved smile off her face.

“And I figured Trollzart could have the other cot-“

“But then where will you sleep?” Said troll interrupted.

“......On the floor?”

Trollzart gave him a look like he was insane.

“I don’t mind!!!” Trollex insisted, raising his hands defensively. “I’ve slept on actual rocks before, I’ll be fine, really.”

Looking unconvinced, Trollzart continued, “Alright..... well what about the pop leader?”

“Do you seriously think he’s gonna willingly leave that stall?” 

“Fair point.”

“Well, if it’s decided,” Delta yawned, “I think I’m gonna hit the hay. G’nite, y’all.” She clopped over to her cot, Clampers in her arms, and expertly maneuvered her way into the cot without disrupting the child. Trollex was impressed, yet not surprised.

“I suppose I should retire for the night as well,” Trollzart announced quietly as he flitted his way over to the other cot.

Trollex similarly floated over to the window and prepared to lie down when he was hit in the back of the head with something soft.

He turned around; it was Trollzart’s thin blanket, clearly hurled across the room. 

The classical king sat with his arms crossed stubbornly on the bed, looking like an upset toddler.

“If you’re going to sleep on the cold hard floor, you should at least take the blanket.”

Trollex tried to deflect, “Oh, no, I couldn’t-“

“Ah ah ah,” Trollzart interrupted, “I insist. It’s only fair since you chose to sleep on the floor.”

Picking up the blanket in his hands, Trollex smiled genuinely. “Thanks, man.”

Trollzart was thankful that the room was too dark to see the blush forming on his face. “Its... not a problem. I hope you sleep well,” he muttered, choosing to lie down and ignore the swelling feeling in his chest.

“Goodnight, Trollzart.” Trollex lay down and draped the blanket over himself. It was far too thin to cause any significant warmth, but he still appreciated the gesture and it made the floor just a touch cozier.

He rolled to his side and shut his eyes. This day had been so long and eventful. He felt like he could just fall asleep within an instant.

——————————————————————————

It had been about an hour.

Trollex looked up at the ceiling in frustration, his head resting on his arms like a makeshift pillow. 

Despite his best efforts, Trollex found himself unable to fall asleep. He'd tossed and turned, trying different sleep positions, even using the blanket Trollzart had thrown at him as a makeshift pillow, yet nothing seemed to be working. 

He couldn't contain the heavy, exasperated sigh that left him. 

Upon realizing how loud that sigh was he immedaitely sat up and checked to make sure the others hadn't woken up. 

Their sillouhetted forms remained still, the only movement being their slow, steady breathing.

Trollex let out a second, quieter sigh of relief as he lay back down, to once again try and get some sleep.

" _Trollex_."

Trollzart jolted back up, his head whipping around. 

Though his facial features were masked by the darkness, Trollex could still feel Trollzart's eyes boring into him from his position, lying on his stomach but propping his chest up with his elbows so he could stare at him. 

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"Wake me?' Trollex could practially hear him rolling his eyes. "I haven't slept a wink! How could I when you keep moving around every five seconds?!?!" he hissed.

".....oops. Sorry," Trollex whispered back with a grimace.

He watched as Trollzart sighed, before whispering back, "It's-it's fine. I just think sleeping would come a lot easier to both of us if you were more comfortable."

Trollzart raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Are you implying that _you_ should take the floor instead? Because I'm no expert but I don't think that'd be super healthy for your wings-"

"No, no, no, well, er, actually, yes, that would be dreadful for my wings, but that's not what I was implying."

".....then what were you trying to imply?"

Trollzart didn't speak: he simply sat up in the cot and scootched over so that he was sitting on the edge. Then, wordlessly and maintaining direct eye contact in the dim red light, he patted the spot in the cot next to him. 

".................. _oh_."

Trollzart pursed his lips and nodded. "Yes......"

"Are you-are you sure? Because I don't want to, like, get all up in your personal space-"

"It-it's fine, it's fine," Trollzart insisted, glancing over at Delta to make sure they hadn't accidentally woken her up (they had not). "You've made it pretty clear that if you're unable to sleep, then so am I, and I think it would be wise if we both rested up so we're prepared for whatever Barb or anyone else throws our way tomorrow. Besides, we're grown men! Who says that two grown men can't share a cot while imprisoned on an enemy critterbus and have it not be awkward?" 

Trollzart realized as soon as he said it how weird that was and attempted to backtrack. "Actually I don't think anyone's even considered that a possibility, let alone said anything of that nature, I'm sorry."

Trollex stifled a giggled before assuring his friend, "No, don't worry, you're fine. And you're also right; it's only weird if we make it weird." 

He got up and floated towards the cot.

"And you're sure you're ok with this?" Trollex whispered.

"Positive. I think it's the best solution to both of our problems."

"Alright....."

It took a bit of awkward adjusting and such, but they were able to get into a sleeping arrangement that suited both of them. Trollex was laying down normally while Trollzart lay down on top of his feet fins. With the blanket on top of them, they looked kind of like a burrito with their heads sticking out of either end.

It was strange, but surprisingly comfortable.

“Goodnight, ‘Zart.”

Trollzart couldn’t contain the smile that spread across his face upon hearing the nickname. “Sleep well, ‘Lex.”

Trollex was only vaguely aware of his friend talking as his exhaustion melted away and he drifted into a surprisingly serene sleep.

——————————————————————————

Peppy blinked into consciousness, cracking his back as he adjusted himself on the seat of the toilet. It hadn't exactly been ideal, sleeping sitting upright in a bathroom stall, but it was what he had chosen to do. After all, he didn't know who he could trust right now.

But that wasn't entirely right, was it?

Peppy sighed, leaning forward so his forehead rested against the port-a-potty door. 

He didn't know what he was doing. He wanted to keep his fellow trolls safe, even before Barb, back when the Bergens were still a threat. But it's not like pop trolls were known for being very big or strong, or intimidating in any way shape or form; all those years with the Bergens left them totally unprepared to fight off any enemies that came their way.

So he chose to run, to hide, to get as far away from any danger as possible. And although it worked before, with that great escape from the Bergens over 20 years ago, he'd be kidding himself if he thought it would be a solid permanent solution. And he had a gut feeling that Poppy knew that too.

Maybe that's why she ran off with Branch, Biggie, and Cooper. She always had been stubborn, and becoming queen of the pop trolls didn't change that for a second. He only wished that she'd at least gave him more of a goodbye than just a handwritten note. If that was the last he heard from her and he ended up nevre seeing here again....

He shook those thoughts from his head. Poppy might have been young and naive to the potential dangers of the world outside of Pop Village, but she was also strong and smart and compassionate beyond belief. Not to mention, she had three of her closest friends with her as well.

He could only hope that they were enough to stop Queen Barb.

On that tangent, he thought about the people he was imprisoned with; the classical king, the techno king and. one (two?) country troll, presumably the mayor (and her daughter????). Sure, they didn't _seem_ like danger, but Peppy's brain still told him they were trouble.

Still, what good did isolating himself from the only people that he could really trust at the moment. And really, what did he have to lose? He was trapped by a power-crazy rocker, he had no idea what the fate of his people was, and his daughter had disappeared to try and fix things. 

_If Poppy were here,_ he thought, _she'd try to figure out what happened with these other leaders and try to make a plan to escape. I have to try to get out of here, I don't have a choice._

Based on the approximate times he fell asleep and eventually woke up, Peppy felt like morning should be nearing, and decided that maybe if he waited outside in the main cell, apologized for his previous behavior, and tried to talk to the others, he could at the very least get some more information as to what was going on. 

He gently clicked the door handle open and creaked it open just a hair, just enough to peer through and check his surroundings.

The country trolls were still fast asleep, with the woman holding the child close to her as the child snuggled up close. 

Peppy smiled at the sight. It reminded him of when Poppy was young and napped with him.

His gaze wandered towards the other cot.

He was not expecting to find the techno troll and the classical troll holding each other in a tight embrace as though their lives depended on it. The techno troll had run his fingers into the classical troll's hair, and the classical troll was resting a tiny hand on his companion's cheek.

Peppy had to wonder if they fell asleep like that or if it just happened during deep sleep tossing and turning.

Regardless, he slowly closed the stall door and relocked it, sitting back down on the toilet seat. 

The smell may not have been wonderful, but he had a hunch that those two would appreciate another hour or so of privacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to write Peppy so please don't roast me too harshly lmao. Also i hope you enjoyed the more obvious shippiness of this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to keep a similar if not greater amount of shippiness consistent throughout the rest of the fic. But I think that covers it for this chapter, see y'all next time!!!! 
> 
> -CC


End file.
